First meetings
by qbo
Summary: A down and out boxer meets someone who will change his life forever
1. Chapter 1

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

The three punch combination slammed into his midsection, the first two blows knocking the little remaining air from his lungs and the final blow knocking him to the canvas.

"1….2….3…."

The sound of the referee counting sounded so distant he might as well have been counting on the dark side of the moon. Despite his best efforts to get himself to move his limbs refused to cooperate.

"7….8….9….10!", and with that the bell finally sounded. With that he finally gave up trying to move and lay there. He felt himself being helped into his feet and led to the centre of the ring.

"And the winner, by knockout…" by this time he didn't even bother to continue listening. In robot-like fashion he completed the required post match congratulations, wordlessly left the ring, and headed towards the locker rooms. He was so absorbed within his own thoughts that he barely noticed the handful of patrons who were in the auditorium to see his fight, and he certainly did not notice the burly heavyset man standing far off to the side who was watching him intently.

The shower had done little to relieve the throbbing aches all over his body from the beating that he had taken, neither had the change into fresh sweats. Looking at his reflection in the mirror he slightly grimaced at the reflection of the face that confronted him.

"At least the fresh bruises will cover the old bruises from the last fight", he said dryly.

At that point, the door burst open as the auditorium owner entered.

"OK kid, this is the take for tonight", he said as he pulled a large wad of bills from the inside pocket of the cheap ill-fitting suit that remained open due to its inability to contain his large pot belly. "Now there's auditorium fees, promotion fees, rentin' the lockers, payin' my guy to be your cornerman…" with each item he recited he pulled out some of the bills from the stack. "Leavin' you with your cut," he finally said handing over the much reduced bundle. The young man quickly counted the money, voiced his thanks, sighed and pocketed the money. He shouldered his gym bag and headed towards the exit. Just as he was about to exit he turned and faced the owner.

"Any idea on when I can get another fight?" he asked.

The owner looked back at him with a hint of pity in his eyes.

"Nothin' in the pipeline right now, but if something comes up, I'll get in touch with ya", he replied.

The younger man nodded and turned back to finally leave. "Hey kid", the owner called after him stopping him in his tracks, "are you sure you want this? I mean you come here and get your chops busted; you've hardly got any wins to your name, and all to make chump change. You're small and weak… are you _really_ cut out for this?"

The young boxer looked back at him and slowly nodded and closed the door behind him and stepped into the cool night. The walk towards the bus stop gave him time to reflect on the owner's words and whether there was some truth to them or not. Upon reaching the stop he found it deserted, and sat down on the bench and relaxed in the warm glow of the street lamp overhead.

"Maybe that guy was right about me not having what it takes to do this", he said out loud.

"If I had listened to everyone who said that, I would never have made it".

The boxer whirled in his seat to face the sound of the new voice, and was confronted by a large black man dressed plainly in a jacket, jeans and a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. "I saw some of your fight tonight, and I got to say you've got a lot of work to do… but you _do_ have potential kid".

"What makes you an expert?" the young boxer asked while standing and facing the man.

"I've seen a few things", he replied. With that, he quickly threw a punch at the boxer. The boxer ducked the blow and threw a straight punch to counter, a counter that the other man easily sidestepped while placing a hand on the youngster's shoulder and pulling towards him, throwing him to the ground. The younger one sprung to his feet to face the other man again, but found that his attacker was smiling broadly.

"Take it easy, that was for show. You tend to counter with a straight punch to the head. Not a bad technique, but you tend to lean too far forward into your punch, leaving you off balance", he said calmly. "Like I said, I see talent in you kid and I want to help you get there, because I know you can get there."

"Listen, I appreciate the offer but I can't afford to pay for a coach… I can barely pay myself".

"This one is on the house so don't worry about that. So like I said if you want my help, I'm here."

The young man paused and looked over the man for a while. Something about him seemed familiar somehow.

"Well what are your credentials then?" the boxer asked half mockingly.

"Well nothing much," the other man said as he took off his cap revealing his features and smiling as he saw a flash of realization cross the younger man's face, "other than being a former W.V.B.A Champion that's all."

"You're "Doc" Louis!" came the exclaimed reply.

"Yes I am," he answered as he offered his hand to shake "and what's your name kid?"

"Mac," he said as he shook his hand and smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

"Okay Mac, good to meet you," Doc said. "Now tomorrow morning… _early_ tomorrow morning, I want you to meet me at this place with your gear," he said as he handed Mac a small scrap of paper with an address on it. "I know that it's a little out of the way but trust me on this."

Mac pocketed the address and looked at Doc with an expression that still held a trace of the amazement. He opened his mouth to speak, but he was at a loss for words. He was spared the embarrassment of the moment when he noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye. A quick glance in that direction revealed the oncoming lights of a city bus cruising up the street.

"Is that your bus?" Doc asked.

"Yeah, that's me," Mac replied. "Mr. Lewis, I don't know what to say besides "thanks"."

"Well, I'll tell you what _not_ to say… it's "Doc", no "Mr. Lewis"… just "_Doc_"", he said with a slight chuckle as the bus pulled up to the stop.

"Sorry." Mac said as he climbed into the bus. "See you tomorrow Doc."

"Tomorrow it is".

Mac took a seat and looked out of the window to bus stop to see Doc still standing by the stop. Doc flashed him a thumbs up which Mac returned along with a grin. As the bus came to life and started to move again, Mac watched Doc turn away and walk off into the night. Mac finally leaned back in his seat to reflect on the unexpected developments of the night. As he thought more and more about it, a feeling of disbelieving joy swept over him and for the first time ever after a fight, his bumps and bruises didn't seem to hurt so badly.

******************************

The next morning found Mac trudging up a busy street dressed in his training sweats, carrying his gym bag and getting curious glances from more than a few of the early morning pedestrians. One could hardly blame them. This area was mostly filled with restaurants, small stores, or lonely apartment buildings… not the kind of place one expects to train for a boxing match. Mac approached the building that apparently contained his final destination.

He was confronted by a diner that was – judging by the sounds of activity – operating in high gear for the early morning breakfast crowd. Upon entering his assumption was proven correct as he had to navigate past moving columns of waiters and waitresses, busily taking orders or serving them. After taking a final look at the directions that Doc had given him, he made his way towards a descending staircase on the far side of the diner and went down. The stairs led to short hallway containing two doors, one at the end which was closed and an open metal door on the left side marked "Freezer". He passed the freezer, and noticed several hunks of beef hanging from the ceiling and shelves laden with cases of frozen food.

He finally reached the door at the end of the hallway and spotted a small sign on the door that read "Heezded Gym". It took a moment for the name to register with Mac.

"He's dead… very cute," he said with a smirk while opening the door and stepping in.

The room was large but still somewhat cluttered due to all of the exercise equipment surrounding the single boxing ring that dominated the center of the gym. The equipment itself seemed old but looked well maintained. Mac was pleased; something about this gym just felt right. He had little time to take it all in for he heard a voice calling out to him.

"Mac, over here", came Doc's voice from the far side of the room. Mac turned towards the sound the sound and sure enough, there was Doc walking towards him from behind the far side of the ring.

"You said that this place was out of the way… you weren't kidding," Mac said.

"Not many people know 'bout here and the owner is a buddy of mine who heard I had a guy to train and he insisted I use here. Aside from that I don't want too many people to know that Doc Lewis is training again, 'cause everyone will be poking around." Doc looked Mac up and down and flashed a slight smirk. "I hope you got lots of rest last night," he said with a twinkle in his eyes, "you'll need your energy."


End file.
